Death Note: The Second Coming
by Florence de la Coeur
Summary: Misa Amane escapes from Japan with a devastating secret in tow.  "Near," she says smiling, "This is not over."
1. Confirmation

If ever there was a doubt about the boy's true father, it all disappeared on his 16th birthday.

"I told you," his mother said, that pixie smile he had only seen once before, when he had graduated from To-Oh University two years ago with high honors, the youngest person to do so in the history of Japan.

"I told you, sweetheart." His mother placed one ruby red fingertip on the side of his face. "Now you have proof. I understand that you needed it. You are your father's son after all...But I wish you could have believed your dear mother."

Eclipse stared in disbelief at the unassuming thin, black notebook in his hand. His back stiffened, knowing then, what must come next. He turned around.

17 years earlier. Tokyo, Japan. January 28, 2010

[Misa Amane]

My heart-I- I could hardly keep up with my own thoughts, staring almost disbelievingly at the little stick my shaking fingers grasped between my legs. This, after months of waiting, months of...trepidation! I knew Light thought it was too early for a child, and I'm sure part of that was not wanting his girlfriend to get fat for nine months, but I just couldn't wait. Light wouldn't even have to be there, I'd raise the child, Light's child, our child for him. To him. In his image! I would raise a child that Light could be proud of. And that's when the phone rang. That damn, damn phone. I had to throw it away after. After. For a long time, it was hard to believe there was going to be any after. But I didn't know yet. Hoping it was Light, I placed the pregnancy test gently on the bathroom counter, as though afraid it would break. As if by dropping the proof of it, the little bundle of cells multiplying as I lived and breathed would vanish altogehter. I practically skipped to the living room and dug in my purse. I sighed. Not light. Motchi.

"Misa-misa," he said, in that low, I'm-so-serious voice I had grown quite fond of.

"Ai, Motchi, how are-"

"Misa, Kira is dead."

My knees went weak. "AIYEEE!" I screamed into the phone, dropping onto the sofa and kicking away happily. "My Light wins! I told you, I told you he is the best detective that Tokyo has ever seen! Is he happy? Is he tired? Oh, he must be tired, I must have a delicious warm dinner for him to come home to! Steamed dumplings, just how he likes, and-"

From the other end of the line, something like the groan of a dying animal crept wafted through the speakers and into the air...Poisoned it.

"Misa-misa..." Motchi said, and I had to strain to hear him. "Misa-misa, Light Yagami is dead."

Light Yagami is dead.

Light Yagami is dead.

"Misa-misa, are you alright? Are you there? Misa-misa!"

I must have made some sort of noise. Light Yagami is dead...

"Misa, I'm not even supposed to be calling you. I'm in the bathroom at...somewhere. Come to think of it, Near might be listening in on me right now. Listen Misa-misa. Listen carefully. I don't know if you know, but Light Yagami is Kira. Was Kira."

My hand hurt.

"I can tell by your reaction, even over the phone, you really had no idea. I believe that Misa, but Near probably won't. He'll be coming after you next. I really like you, Misa. So I need you to pull it together, and get the hell out of Tokyo. The hell out of the country, if you can swing it."

"...W-where?.." I was in auto-pilot.

"Anywhere. Just no matter what you do, don't contact anyone you know. Not even family. Near will already have them under surveillance."

Family? Light is my family.

"I don't know where to go..."

"I don't know where you will go either, Misa and it's probably better if I don't. Just be gone as soon as you can, we are going to search Light's apartment as soon as the mess at the warehouse is cleaned up. Make sure there aren't any more pieces of the notebook there. Take what you need, but go!"

Distantly, I heard someone-Aizawa?-call "Mogi!"

"Damn! Misa-misa, take care of yourself."

Click.

The next few weeks are cloudy, so cloudy even now, so many years after, I can't even piece them together. All I have are snatches.

"If anything ever happens to me-"

"Oh, Light, you know I hate it when you talk like this!" I tried to silence him with a kiss, but he pulled away.

"Listen, Misa!" he said, his eyes flashing red. "If something ever happens to me, there is a key here," he said, patting the bedside table next to him. "It opens a safety deposit box at -. It is in your name. Go there. I will have a note for you. Make sure you do exactly-as-it-says. Do you understand, Misa?"

"Oh, Light, you should know by now, I'll do anything you tell me to. I'd ask Kira to write my name down in his notebook if that's what you wanted." I placed my hand on his chest. "But you're going to find him, and nothing's going to happen to you."

Light folded his arms behind his head, and closed his eyes. Satisfied. For the time being.

Misa, my love,

If you are reading this, I am dead and Near won. I calculated that there was a .00039% chance of failure on my part. It seems that was enough. I know that you are pregnant-you really didn't think you could hide that from me, did you? I must admit, I had reservations. If I survived, I am not sure what I would have done. Now that I am dead, the course is more clear. You know that I am Kira now. The blood of Kira flows in our baby's veins-the heir to my kingdom. There is a scrap of Death Note stapled to the back of this paper. If Teru Mikami is still alive, write his name on the paper, by suicide as soon as you are out of the country. And yes, you must leave. Also in this box is $3000 US. That should be enough. Do whatever you need to, but make sure our child has the best education possible. I expect them to continue their father's legacy. I love you, Misa. I only wish I was there to raise our child with you, my heart. Destroy this.

Yours, even in death,

L

8 Months Later. Atlanta, GA. August 4, 2010.

[Misa Amane]

As it turns out, life for a pregnant model in a foreign country is hard. I looked everywhere for a job that suited my...normal lifestyle. At first, things went okay. I got a job serving drinks at a gentleman's club a few blocks from my apartment, but as soon as I started showing, and that was pretty soon considering my outfit, my sleazy boss fired me. "If you don't have any stretchmarks, come on back. Customers dig the Asian thing." All things considered, I'm not a superstitious person. But the fact that I was cleaning Mr. Johnson's library when I went into premature labor...well that sealed the deal that Eclipse would be his father's son.

I stared down at my soaked shoes and grinned. "The second coming."


	2. Education Part I

Eclipse Akira Amane, August 4, 2023

On my thirteenth birthday, a little after I graduated from my highschool, my mother told me a fairytale. Or a horror story. I don't know if I actually don't know which, or if I can't tell the difference under normal circumstances. What does it matter if the princess marries the prince or gets hauled off to the underworld?

"It's not real anyway," I told my mother, my arms crossed over my favorite red tie (school uniform for my private highschool). "There's no such thing as gods of any kind, and now you expect me to believe in Shinigami like some stupid kid? Tell me, Mother, what's he going to do if I, say, refuse to go to Japan with you?"

Mother pulled her rapidly whitening hair back. "Don't be so cocky! You are very smart, Eclipse, but there are many things you don't know yet! Like the fact that I know Shinigami exist...and so did your father. So did many people, before you were born."

"M-my father?"

It wasn't long after I had learned to speak, that I began asking about him. I could see it pained her to draw up the memory of him, but I kept asking. So every now and then, she would give in and talk. Like now. But I always sensed she was holding back something. Was this it? Was this the missing piece of my father? But this is crazy! Shinigami don't exist...But I also knew my father was no fool. Intelligence is at least partially genetic-and I loved my mother, but I didn't get any IQ points from her.

"Yes...Oh, Eclipse, you have no idea how much you look like him..." She touched my cheek, her eyes red and glistening.

"M-mom, you don't have to, I mean, we can do this another time. I understand."

"No, Eclipse, I have waited long enough. Your father would probably say too long."

She took a deep breath.

"There is a realm in this universe that is neither heaven nor hell, life nor death. It is a barren wasteland, and it is the home of the Shinigami." How many times had she rehearsed this speech? It was like she was reading it... "There must be hundereds, maybe thousands of them, spending their days doing nothing-gambling, talking with each other, or looking down on the human world. It's quite boring."

I almost laughed.

"Mother, I'm trying to believe you, I am. But, assuming this is true, how would you even know this?"

"A Shinigami named Rem told me. She's gone now..."

"Rem?-"

"Your father's Shinigami was named Ryuk. My entire plan hedges on his boredom, so don't interrupt me!" I looked down, ashamed, and a little stunned. I could count on one hand the number of times my mother had raised her voice at me. I'd never seen her so tense... But how could she expect me to believe this foolishness? Was she actually crazy? She does seem to believe genuinely in her story...But there should be other indicators to mental illness, like the inability to form coherent sentences, or auditory or visual hallucinations. If she had had any, she'd never told me, not counting seeing the gods of death floating around and talking to her...I readjusted my glasses, deciding for the moment to play along, to at least see where she was going with this.

"My father had a Shinigami?"

Mother grinned. "Hai. Sometimes, Shinigami enter the human world, most often to do their work-taking humans from this world and into the next by writing their names in a notebook. But sometimes, like Ryuk and Rem, they do it because they're bored. They drop their Death Note in the human world, and see what happens. Light had one and so did I. Before you ask, a Death Note is a notebook," she almost sighed, closing her eyes and reclining back into her chair. She traced the sides of an imaginary book in the air, while she spoke. "A notebook in which anyone can write the name of a person, and that person will die."

"Th-that's-" I swallowed. "But that..." I shot up from my chair. "You killed people?"

"Hear me out, Eclipse! I have always taught you right from wrong, have I not? At least hear your mother out, I deserve that much. It wasn't easy raising you alone. If at the end of this conversation, you still don't understand, do what you must. But until then, sit back down, Eclipse."

Weakly, I sank into the chair.

"You remember the Kira case, right? In Japan, in the years before you were born."

"Of course."

When I was in the tenth grade, there was a section in my textbook.

"You were so interested! It made me so excited, it's like you already knew. But I couldn't tell you. You were too young. Eclipse, your textbook didn't have the name of Kira or any of the detectives working on the case, did it?"

That's right. I had thought it strange that no one had been credited with the capture of such an...influential-and successful- serial killer. Nor was a name provided for the killer himself. I asked my teacher, searched online. Nothing. Only old fansites where people either mourned his "disappearance" or thanked God for his death.

"Your father was one of those detectives."

My eyes widened. "What? Did he catch Kira? Did he kill him? What does this have to do with Shinigami?" My thoughts were racing. I'm not sure I would have chased Kira. He punished those who needed to be punished. The FBI database during the time Kira was active reported that even crime rates dropped all the way in the U.S. thanks to Kira's reign. Through what little snippets of information there were on the case...I was actually rooting for Kira.

"Your father was Kira. And I helped him. We killed using our Death Notes. And now it is time for you to continue your father's work, in Japan, where you belong."

Silence, while my mother waited for it to sink in. Then, I stood. "Well now I see why you insisted on me applying to To-Oh. I need some air."

"Eclipse, are you alright?"

"Don't follow me." I headed toward the front door. She called after me, "You are your father's son!"

Almost uncontrollably, stuffing my hands into my pockets, I smirked.

All my life seemed now like a held breath. An anticipation. I alienated my classmates with my intellect, baffled my teachers with my intelligence. In intellectual ability, none were my equal. Just like my father. And now, I had decided to expel that breath. The moment had come. My place, I had decided, was no longer in this foreign country. No, not just like my father. My father had been caught. "By a man named Near." My mother had said. Who, by his approximate age at the time of my father's murder, should still be alive. Not for long. I readjusted my glasses and turned the key in the lock.

"Mother!" I called into the house.

"Yes, Eclipse? I'm in the bathroom, make up!"

"I am going to start packing now."

Silence. Then, "I am so proud of you, Eclipse. I'll be just a minute. We'll leave tomorrow night, and I'll explain more on the way."

I still didn't know if I believed the nonsense about the Shinigami, but if my father really was Kira, then I could discover more about him in Japan than I ever could here. And besides, I thought. This Near interests me...The man who outwitted my father. Certainly, someone worth investigating.

"I'll buy the tickets in a false name, and the fakes should be ready in about five hours," I told Mother, backtracking carefully through Japan's databases. No trace. No footprints. "We'll pay in cash when we get there."

"Why do we need fake names just to go back home?"

"Mother, you were involved in the Kira case. Even though it was a long time ago, Misa Amane returning to Japan would raise some eyebrows, especially with someone like me in tow, if I really do look as much like my father as you say."

When the screen went dark I stared into my reflection. I would have to cut my hair into a different style. Something uncharacteristic, just in case, and maybe wear contacts. My hair, though, my hair was distinctly my mother's. Blond and American-looking. No need for a change in color there.

"Right, Li-Eclipse. Do what you think is best."

"Just get packed, Mom, and make sure the money is ready. I'll take care of everything else. Right now, I'm heading to the barber. What do you think of me with a buzzcut?"

She pulled a face.

Eclipse Akira Amane, August 7, 2023

"Welcome aboard, Mr...Kurasaki, Mrs. Kurasaki."

"Thank you, sir." The flight attendant handed us back our seat assignments. One way tickets to Japan. Mother let out a sigh of relief.

"Don't tell me you were worried, Mom?"

"I'm your mother, that's my job. Besides, don't you think your hair is just a bit over the top?" She tugged a piece gently.

I laughed. "I kind of like it," I said, running my hands through it. "I'll look like any other kid in Japan." I had given my barber a picture of the group Tohoshinki, and told him to do his best. Judging by the sidelong glances I received from girls my age (and a bit older)-his best was pretty damn good.

"Ecl-Katsuro?" my mother said as I lifted her fifty pound bag of shoes into the overhead compartment (some things never change, I guess).

"Yes?"

"I have to tell you lots of things on the way. I know you don't believe me yet, but if you still don't have sufficient proof over the next three days, then I'll drop it altogether."

Out of her purse, she pulled a thick, hard-backed volume entitled "Japanese Mythology."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Oh come on, Katsuro. Some of your father did rub off on me after all."

She flipped to the chapter on Shinigami and began. "This is the first rule," she said quietly as the flight attendant recited the information for take off. "You must never, _ever_ shorten your lifespan by obtaining the Shinigami eyes yourself, although you will be tempted."

"Shinigami...eyes?" I frowned. I didn't like this. I still didn't really believe it, but my mother surely couldn't have come up with such an elaborate story on her own, even if she was mentally incompetent. Besides, if nutjobs really did believe this, it wouldn't do to be talking about it in the middle of an international flight. Mother smiled, and shook her head. She said, "You." Then she placed her finger on a word in the text. "Must." Then "know." Then "the." "Name of the one intend to kill. Shinigami eyes allow..." "You," she said again. "To...see...the...names...but...take...half...life."

I raised my eyebrows.

"There is only one more rule, Katsuro," she said.

"Yes?"

"You must kill Near."


End file.
